Sam Clovis, President Donald Trump's nominee to be the Department of Agriculture's chief scientist has pulled his name from consideration.

"The purpose of this letter is to respectfully request that you withdraw my name immediately from consideration for the position of Under Secretary for Research, Education and Economics at the United States Department of Agriculture," Clovis said in a statement.

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The withdrawal comes as Justice Department special counsel Robert Mueller's probe into the Trump campaign and Russian collusion heats up. The investigation is looking into the indictments of former top Trump campaign advisers Paul Manafort and Rick Gates.

The Washington Post reported earlier this week that Clovis was one of the campaign officials referred to in court documents who George Papadopoulos was emailing with.

Sen. Debbie Stabenow, the ranking Democrat on the Senate agriculture committee, said court records released this week raised more questions over Clovis' nomination.

"From early on, I have strongly opposed the nomination of Sam Clovis to be the chief scientist at USDA," she said in a statement. "The emerging information about his role in the Trump campaign's interactions with Russia raises serious concerns. As we consider his nomination, I will be looking into these facts, along with his questionable qualifications and long history of divisive and outrageous statements."

Clovis, a former conservative radio talk show host in Iowa who was a frequent guest on CNN during the election, became an early supporter of Trump's two years ago. He quickly rose through the ranks of the campaign after Trump's strong finish in the Iowa caucuses, taking a national role in the organization as officials scrambled to build a campaign team.

Clovis, a novice to national presidential campaigns, was supervising Papadopoulos and became a visible spokesman for Trump on CNN and other networks.

A previous version of this story included a photo that misidentified Sam Clotus.